Ms Goulding said her internet slowed right down in February before dropping out completely during March, only working occasionally at slow speeds ever since.

Despite repeated attempts by iinet and Telstra to fix the issue, Ms Goulding complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and has had to resort to using an expensive Wi-Fi service to be able to work from home.

“I am a senior research fellow and we have around 30 ‘global classrooms’ where lectures and conferences can be transmitted in real time to the most remote communities in Australia and to the university’s campuses on the other side of the world.

“But I live in an established suburb in one of Australia’s major cities and I can’t get a working phone line or ADSL internet connection.”

Ms Goulding said she pays a monthly rate of $50 for 7gb to use the Wi-Fi service, compared to $90 for 1000gb from her internet provider (ISP) when her internet line was working.

Technicians carried out a range of tests, checking lines on numerous occasions during March; on one occasion a technician found a broken wire and fixed it, which gave temporary respite.

“It was clear and I had internet again,” Ms Goulding said.

“He left. I spoke with the ISP support officer and she closed the complaint as fixed.

“The internet worked at a reasonable speed for just over an hour then slowed down and within two-to-three hours of the technician leaving it stopped altogether again.

“I was so angry, frustrated and powerless. I had no idea what to do.”

Ms Goulding said her ISP told her that the Telstra line to her house was so badly degraded it was causing high levels of transmission loss.

“I went to my local Telstra store to see if they could help but because they are not my ISP they couldn’t assist me,” she said.

“I asked if they might replace the degraded line and was told that was most unlikely.”

Ms Goulding believes every household in Seville Grove should have access to stable internet service, regardless of who the ISP is.

“Telstra should be made to take responsibility for the upkeep of the lines that they own and they should stop hiding behind the old chestnut that they can’t help because they are not the relevant ISP,” she said.

“Where lines can’t be fixed, they should be replaced.”

She said she had no animosity towards iinet, but terminated her account with the company because her service is so slow.

“They have tried to work with Telstra,” she said.

A Telstra spokesperson said it was a complicated issue because it was not Ms Goulding’s ISP and iinet did not respond to Comment News.